‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Breaks Record with $205 Million Debut

“Deadpool & Wolverine,” a comic book adventure that pairs two of Marvel’s most beloved characters, is making waves at the box office.

Disney’s superhero sequel has amassed an impressive $205 million during its opening weekend. This achievement ranks it as the eighth-best debut of all time, surpassing 2018’s “Black Panther” ($202 million) and trailing behind 2015’s “Jurassic World” ($208 million) and 2012’s “The Avengers” ($207 million). Only a few films in Hollywood history have managed to cross the $200 million mark in their debut weekends. The movie also easily surpassed 2016’s “Deadpool” ($132 million), setting a new record for the largest R-rated opening weekend ever. The 2018 sequel, “Deadpool 2,” now stands as the third-biggest R-rated debut with $125 million. Among its numerous milestones, “Deadpool & Wolverine” also captured the biggest opening of the year, overtaking Disney’s Pixar sequel “Inside Out 2” ($155 million).

On the international front, “Deadpool & Wolverine” garnered $233.3 million, bringing its global tally to a staggering $438 million after just three days of release. The film is already the sixth-highest-grossing movie of 2024.

Before the weekend started, projections for the third “Deadpool” installment ranged between $160 million and $170 million. Those estimates were quickly surpassed as fans rushed to be among the first to see the film and avoid spoilers, sending the Shawn Levy-directed blockbuster to unprecedented heights. On Friday alone, “Deadpool & Wolverine” earned $96 million, more than what most films in 2024 have made during their entire opening weekends.

Starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, “Deadpool & Wolverine” marks a significant win for Marvel. This weekend, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) crossed the $30 billion mark globally. Despite delivering a continuous stream of blockbusters over the last 15 years, recent Marvel entries like “Eternals,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” and “The Marvels” have not performed well at the box office. The flood of spin-offs, sequels, and TV series following the launch of the Disney+ streaming service contributed to the underwhelming performance. In response, Disney’s CEO Bob Iger has announced plans to reduce the MCU’s output. Due to last year’s strike and other delays, “Deadpool & Wolverine” is the sole Marvel Studios movie of 2024 — a situation that hasn’t occurred since 2012’s “The Avengers.”

David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research commented, “The pandemic hasn’t slowed the biggest superhero titles,” pointing to the successes of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” ($1.91 billion), “Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness” ($956 million), “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” ($859 million), and “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” ($846 million). However, Gross also noted that newer and less established films have struggled. The MCU is banking on familiar names in its future line-up, including Robert Downey Jr.’s return as Victor von Doom in 2026’s “Avengers: Doomsday.”

This summer signifies a comeback for Disney, which stumbled in 2023 with a series of underperforming blockbusters, including “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” “The Haunted Mansion,” and “Wish.” However, 2024 has been more promising. “Inside Out 2” has become the highest-grossing animated film in history with $1.5 billion, surpassing “Frozen II.” Meanwhile, “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” is nearing $400 million globally. Next month, Disney anticipates another win with “Alien: Romulus.”

With cinemas dedicating nearly all auditoriums to “Deadpool & Wolverine,” last weekend’s champion “Twisters” dropped to second place. The disaster film, starring Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, and Anthony Ramos, still managed to earn $35.3 million, albeit down 57% from its debut. To date, “Twisters” has generated $154.9 million domestically and $221 million globally.

Holdover titles also continued to perform well. At No. 3, Universal and Illumination’s “Despicable Me 4” added $14.2 million in its fourth weekend, accumulating $290.9 million domestically and $677 million worldwide. “Inside Out 2” took fourth place with $8.3 million in its seventh weekend, bringing its domestic total to $613.4 million.

Neon’s horror hit “Longlegs” secured the fifth spot with $6.7 million, boosting its North American total to $58 million. It now ranks as Neon’s highest-grossing film, outperforming the Oscar-winning “Parasite” with $53.36 million in North America.

More to come…

Source: Variety